Upcoming Homecoming Week Celebrations – Austin Daily Herald

By Emily Hovland

AHS Student Council Advisor

Next week is Homecoming and it’s a very exciting time in Austin Public Schools. This year’s theme is “Send the Falcons Flying!” Festivities kicked off Friday with a pep fest to announce dress-up days and share information about the week.

Monday is out of school, so Tuesday will be the start of SPAM Day week for students. There will be a party in the afternoon to announce Homecoming Court and the SPAM truck will be on the east lawn after school handing out free SPAM sliders to students.

Wednesday is Neon Day, and before classes, you will be able to purchase doughnuts for $2 in the common building.

Thursday is Class Color Day. After a school-wide assembly where we listened to our outstanding AHS graduates on Thursday morning, we will begin our year-long Battle of Connects competition. This is a change from previous years.

Students will have the opportunity to earn Battle of Connects points throughout the school year, and the competition will culminate in the spring with traditional Battle of Connects events. On Thursday, in partnership with Hormel Foods, all students will compete in a service project, packing thousands of snack bags on the East Lawn. Classes will compete to earn the most Battle of Connects points. On Thursday evening, there will be an annual bonfire for all AHS students after the girls soccer game against Winona.

Friday is Scarlet and White Day. In the morning, we will crown our Homecoming King and Queen, in the afternoon, we will have a school kickball game, and at the end of the school day, we will have a pep rally. At this final pep rally, the sports captains and activity leaders will share ways to get involved with AHS, and the cross country team will deliver a game ball to the field after running all the way back to our school from Faribault.

Right after the pep fest is the Homecoming parade. Each grade level has its own walkway that they decorate and fill with lots of students, as well as many other parade participants including the AHS and Ellis pep bands, various elementary schools, football players, cheerleaders, notable alumni, recent AHS Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, and many more.

Please note: the parade route is different this year! The parade will begin at 4:00 PM on September 27 at Westcott Field. The parade will proceed east on Fourth Avenue NW to Fourth Street NW to Third Avenue NW and end on the east side of Austin High School.

At 7:00 PM, our very own Austin Packer football team will face off against the Faribault Falcons. You will see a lot of school involvement during the game, including the AHS band providing musical entertainment, the Austinaires singing the National Anthem, Homecoming Court presentations at halftime, and the Cheer Team performing a special routine. Additionally, this year’s honored graduates will be inducted along with the new inductees to the Athletic Hall of Fame.

Homecoming week will end on Saturday with a dance party for all AHS students at Westcott Field from 7:00-10:00 p.m. There will be food trucks, music, games, and lots of dancing.

There will be a food drive throughout the week where all food and personal care items will be donated to the Packer Pantry to directly support our AHS students and families. Additionally, there will be multiple home sporting events throughout the week including:

• Girls soccer Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. against Northfield,

• Volleyball on Tuesday at 7:15 pm against Rochester Mayo and

• Girls soccer game is Thursday at 7 p.m. against Winona.

Good luck to all the sports teams in their games and hopefully all the AHS students have a fun and safe homecoming week. It’s a great day to be a Packer!!